warten
German, verb
warten is spelled W-A-R-T-E-N (6 letters) and appears 102 times per million words in written German, the 837th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Warten is a German verb meaning “to wait (for)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Warten is a different word: “waiting”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Zeit verstreichen lassen beziehungsweise untätig sein, bis ein bestimmter Zustand eintrifft”.
What does warten mean in English?
verb
- 1
to wait (for)
- 2
to maintain (chiefly a machine, e.g. a car or heating)
noun
- 1
neuterwaiting
- 2
neutermaintaining
noun
- 1
plural of Warte
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Zeit verstreichen lassen beziehungsweise untätig sein, bis ein bestimmter Zustand eintrifft 2. technische Apparate pflegen und eventuell regelmäßig reparieren
noun: 1. Zustand der Untätigkeit, bis ein bestimmter Zustand trifft 2. Vorgang/Handlung, bei der ein technischer Zustand überprüft wird
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of warten
- wartet present singular third-person
- wartete past
- gewartet participle past
- haben auxiliary
- wartend participle present
- warte first-person indicative present
- wartest indicative present second-person
- warteten first-person indicative plural
- wartetest indicative preterite second-person
- wartetet indicative plural preterite
- wart imperative second-person singular
- habe gewartet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gewartet first-person indicative multiword-construction
- warte! imperative singular
- wartet! imperative plural
- gewartet haben active infinitive perfect
- gewartet werden processual-passive infinitive present
- gewartet worden sein processual-passive infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to warten
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is warten in German?
warten appears 102 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).